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The Ecosystem

HomeWhat is LongLeaf?The EcosystemHabitats

Habitats

Longleaf pine forests covered such a large geographical range. Perhaps what is taken for granted is how diverse this forest type was (and is) across the landscape.

Seeing longleaf pine forests today, many people often (erroneously) assume that the species is relegated to dry sandy ridges or steep south facing slopes. On the contrary, areas too steep, too dry to farm or too poor to grow loblolly or slash pine are, for the most part, merely a vestige of the richness that once was the longleaf pine ecosystem.

For thousands of years, subtle differences in soils and topography influenced fire behavior, site productivity etc. which, in turn, influenced the composition of the forest, e.g., groundcover plants, insect and animal species, and tree height, just to name a few.

These habitat types can generically be lumped into four groups: montane, sandhill, rolling hill, and flatwoods/savannas. Follow the links below to learn more about these remarkable habitats of the longleaf pine ecosystem.

Montane  |  Sandhills  |  Rolling Hills  |  Flatwoods/Savannas

Montane

Berry College - montane old growth 2

Montane longleaf pine was found dominating the southern and southwestern slopes (though not confined to them) and ridgelines up to about 2000 ft. elevation in north Alabama and northwest Georgia. This habitat also includes an isolated ridge starting at Pine Mountain, GA and extending to Thomson, GA. Since much of the northern boundary of the longleaf pine is found in this habitat type, the forest is seen to subtly grade from a pure longleaf pine overstory to an overstory of mixed southern pines at its fringes. About 20 % of the pre-settlement longleaf pine ecosystem was covered by this habitat type.

Soils

The soils in which these longleaf grow are well drained with beds of flinty pebbles, sandstone ridges and even rock outcrops. In particular, on rocky ridges and slopes that contains sandstone, quartzite, plyllite, mica shcists and gneiss.

Common Plants

Broomstraws, bluestems, goat's rue, bracken ferns, rushes and sedges, sensitive briar.

Common Trees and Shrubs

scarlet oak, mountain blueberry, mountain laurel, American chestnut, blackjack oak, Virginia pine, shortleaf pine, pig nut hickory, mockernut hickory, rock chestnut oak, southern red oak.

Fire Frequency

Fires burned every one to five years to maintain this habitat type and either crept down ridge lines or roared up steep slopes.

Without Fire

Quickly turns into a hardwood/mixed pine forest (especially Virginia and Shortleaf Pines)

Sandhills

Walthour Moss Sandhills

Characterized as sandhill ridges of loose, porous sand that starts in southern Virginia and runs through west Georgia at about 500 to 600 feet above sea level. A few isolated sand ridges exist on the Florida panhandle and peninsula. Longleaf Pine sandhills are characterized as a forest of widely spaced pine trees with a fire-stunted understory of deciduous (scrub) oaks and a sparse to continuous ground cover of bunchgrasses and herbs. Today, sandhill longleaf sites make of some of the largest acreages of remaining longleaf pine habitat (despite comprising roughly 10% of the original landscape).

Soils

Droughty, deep beds of white sands that are relatively low in fertility and result (often) in lower species diversity and usually shorter longleaf pine. In some areas sands can be 2-15 feet deep. In some areas of the Carolinas, sands can be 100 - 150 feet deep without changing.

Common Plants

pricky pear cactus, wiregrass, bluestems, hairsedge, piney woods dropseed, gopher apple, golden aster, hairawn muhly, pineland phlox, sandhill lupine, bird's foot violet, dwarf iris, fringed bluestar, pinebarren frostweed, pineland wild indigo, man-root (morning glory), sandhill roseling, orange-fringed orchids, yellow-eyed grasses, narrowleaf sabatia, threadleaf gererdia, goat's rue, butterfly pea, Carolina indigo.

Common Trees and Shrubs

turkey oak, bluejack oak, southern red oak, blackjack oak, sand post oak, myrtle oak, Arkansas oak, mockernut hickory, sand hickory, black cherry, sassafras, blackberry, sparkleberry, persimmon, low-bush blueberry, pawpaw.</span>

Fire Frequency

2 to 7 years carried almost exclusively by bunch grasses</span>

Without Fire

Usually succeeds to canopy dominated by scrub oaks (like turkey oak).

Rolling Hills

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Characterized as having sufficiently rolling habitat to insure good drainage. Often very productive sites capable of producing excellent longleaf pine timber. Found at 130 to 250 feet above sea level. It is speculated that 30% of pre-settlement landscape was rolling hill habitat.

Soils

brown, sandy loam uplands 10 - 15 inches in depth often with fossiliferous materials. In some areas, underlying parent material is limestone. Occasionally, limestone pushes through the sandy loam and forms outcroppings.

Common Plants

Bear grass, bluestem bunchgrasses, wiregrass, rattlebox, dollar pea, lespedeza, candyroot, procession flower, orange milkwort, pinebarren goldenrod

Common Trees and Shrubs

blackjack oak, turkey oak, willow oak, sand post oak, southern red oak, Florida dogwood, mockernut hickory, black hickory, persimmon, gallberry, yaupon, wax myrtle.

Fire Frequency

1-3 years. Numerous native bunchgrasses to help carry fire.

Without Fire

Hardwoods (often willow oak or sweet gum) capture the forest midstory and overstory shading out ground cover plants.

Flatwoods and Savannas

20190126_111421

Characterized as high density, longleaf pine dominated forests. The surface is very level, poorly drained and often interspersed with frequent and (sometimes large) swampy patches or wet prairies. Flatwoods can start just above the tidewater and extend inland to about 130 feet above sea level. Productivity is high and longleaf pines can reach heights in excess of 120 feet. This longleaf pine habitat type has the highest diversity of ground cover of herbs and shrubs. Since the soils are relatively poorly drained and typically have low reserves of available nutrients, numerous orchids and carnivorous plants are common in the ground cover. Often described as both the Atlantic Coastal Flatwoods and the Gulf Coastal Flatwoods.

Soils

Moderately to poorly drained terrain. The soils are typically acidic, have low reserves of available nutrients, are low in organic matter content and maintain an ash-colored silty clay appearance.

Common Plants

Tarflower, wiregrass, toothache grass, bluestems, silk grass, hatpins, muhly grass, pineweeds, pitcher plants, sundews, flytraps, Catesby's lilly, white star grass, morning glory, milkweeds, quail pea, butterfly pea, goat's rue, lespedezas, iron weed, deer tongue.

Common Trees and Shrubs

Water oak, sweet gum, red maple, ash, saw palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush, wax myrtle, yaupon, ilex, dwarf live oak, sweet bay, titi, southern magnolia, persimmon, black gum, creeping blueberry, blackberry.

BROWSE THIS SECTION

  • The Tree
    • Life Stages
    • The Economics
    • The History
    • The Misconceptions
  • The Ecosystem
    • Built by Fire
    • Habitats
    • Species Diversity
  • Restoration & Management
    • Groundcover Restoration
    • Herbicides
    • Longleaf Regeneration
    • Prescribed Fire
  • Photo Gallery

From our feed

🎉BIG NEWS🎉 The Longleaf Alliance's website h 🎉BIG NEWS🎉 The Longleaf Alliance's website has a whole new look! Explore LongleafAlliance.org and help us celebrate by sharing it (link in our bio). Happy browsing!
Did you know? National Invasive Species Awareness Did you know? National Invasive Species Awareness Week wraps up this weekend! What better way to participate in #NISAW than to raise your own awareness about the invasives species on your property and make a plan to address the problem. Let us know if we can help > https://longleafalliance.org/contact

📷 Recognizing the threat posed by the Chinese tallow tree, the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP) identified control of this and other invasive species as a high priority.  Thanks to a State Wildlife Grant and support from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Longleaf Alliance (TLA) staff have located and treated over 7,000 Chinese tallow trees within the Florida portion of the Yellow River watershed, with more work needed for successful control in the GCPEP landscape. Pictured here is TLA's Kaiden Spurlock cutting a Chinese tallow tree; after cutting the stump was treated with herbicide. Photo by Vernon Compton.
#LongleafPine forests have been burning for millen #LongleafPine forests have been burning for millennia. To all of our benefit. Before there were houses or roads, lightning and indigenous people started fires that naturally stopped at rivers or wetlands. These fires removed overgrowth that, if left to build up, became fuel for wildfire, threatened native plant species and damaged wildlife habitats. Today, we use prescribed fire to get these same benefits. #resotrelongleaf #longleaf #longleafpines #goodfire

📷 Carvers Creek State Park. Photo by @mt.walker
We are thrilled to announce a NEW #PrescribedFire We are thrilled to announce a NEW #PrescribedFire Pilot Project in partnership with the Georgia Sentinel Landscape (GSL), which aims to coordinate conservation priorities across the landscape that benefit natural resources as well as national defense. Managing and maintaining healthy forestlands in Georgia benefits wildlife habitat and at-risk species while simultaneously strengthening Georgia’s rural economies and military installations. This project will increase prescribed burning within the GSL by 35,000 acres by providing technical and financial resources to private landowners who are interested in implementing prescribed burning, installing firebreaks, and obtaining burn plans.

We are equally thrilled to have Susan French join The Longleaf Alliance (TLA) staff as Georgia Sentinel Landscape Pilot Project Coordinator to lead this exciting effort. Before joining TLA, Susan worked as a wildlife biologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, focusing on providing technical assistance to private landowners. She is a Certified Prescribed Fire Manager in South Carolina and holds a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology & Management from Auburn University and a M.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Biology from Clemson University.

Read more about the project on our website under News! Link in our bio.

#goodfire #restorelongleaf #longleaf #longleafpine #lonlgeafpines
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